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Her daughter Deborah Riley, 54, said they set the group up to give the local children something to do.

She said: “She’d been taught ballet and loved dancing from an early age. Her group went all over the world. They had an audience with Pope in Rome, had concerts in Sweden and performed at Universal Studios and Epcot in Florida. Everyone had a lot of respect for my mum - when she spoke, everyone listened.”

Even though the St Mary’s clog dancers stopped in 2004, Theresa’s family say they often still receive calls asking to book the group.

Deborah said: “She was a good friend to a lot of people and she was still helping people out until she became ill around six or seven weeks ago. She loved life, she was very traditional and she loved Lancashire. If you cut her in half, it would say Lancashire like a stick of rock.”

Theresa’s granddaughter, Catherine, 33, said her grandmother’s love of dancing was passed on to all the family.

Catherine said: “She was a lovely person, who did a lot for everyone, she was very caring and she liked to help everybody. After going to Rome, she started to learn Italian and became very good. She was passionate about her family and she loved the church. She had hundreds of friends and she will be sorely missed.”

She was the beloved wife of William, the devoted loving mother of Deborah, Jacqueline and William, the treasured grandma of Caroline and Graham, Catherine and Julian, Christopher and Sarah, Lewis and Emily, the much loved great-grandma of Carlton and Oliver and Owen and Maia.